Town focusing on themselves as players come in for Sunday training before Gillingham test

MARK Cooper said Swindon Town will be focussing on themselves as they prepare to take on Gillingham at The Priestfield tomorrow night.

The squad have been in for training on Sunday and yesterday as they look to correct the blank goals column that blighted their performance on against Crawley on Saturday.

Town dominated possession and shots at The Broadfield but ended up going home with nothing to show for it as Crawley stole victory from a controversially awarded penalty.

Though still visibly frustrated by James Linington’s decision, Cooper thought the opportunity for Izale McLeod to break through was too easily created. It was one of a few occasions where Town’s back three were undone by a straight long ball and the Town boss admitted it was something they had looked at in training.

“We trained yesterday, obviously with a midweek game we felt we needed to get them in and get the stiffness out of their legs,” said Cooper.

“I think when we look back at the goal, the first thing is it’s poor defending from us to be in a position in where their goalie kicks it and their clean through on goal so we didn’t do that right and that’s something we tried to address yesterday and we will do today.

“We have to be more clinical in the last final third of the pitch and concentrate on the final pass and the final finish.

“We did some work on trying to make sure we get a better chance or better opportunity to score a goal, so we’ll work on that again today.

“We’re gonna work on that and make sure we’re getting in the right areas and we’re putting the ball in the right areas.

“I think the most important thing is to still play a certain way, that means we get the ball from the back to the front in the same way, that we’re not just gonna start wacking it.

“We have to concentrate on getting the ball in from the boys at the back into midfield and into the front boys and if we do that goals come.

“It’s what we’re about, we’re becoming synonymous with that now and creating an identity, which is what we’ve wanted.

“If we have performance after performance like we did the other day we’ll win a lot more games than we lose.”

Cooper hinted that Josh Lelan, the on-loan Derby defender who started the opening game against Scunthorpe, could come into the left wing-back slot.

“Barch (Jack Barthram) has played half a game on Tuesday, he played 60 minutes on Saturday whereas Josh (Lelan) is fresh and that’s something we’ll look at.

“Lelan can probably play out there, we can switch Nathan Byrne back (to the left) so we’ll work on that this morning and see after training.”

Despite the big changes to the playing staff and style at Gillingham this summer Town feel they know what to expect from their hosts.

“The manager is very organised, he’ll have them very organised and they’ll be difficult to beat like they were when we went to Gillingham (last time) but we’ll try and concentrate on ourselves. We know what Gillingham’s threats will be but we’re gonna concentrate on ourselves and trying to implement our style of play on them.

“Hopefully then if both teams try and play it’s who’s best with the ball and who looks after it the best.”

Comments

old town robin
10:41pm Mon 18 Aug 14

What;s this "gonna" Bassam, you're supposed to be a journalist not a gangsta!

With regards the article, great to hear Cooper had them in on Sunday, If he's thinking of playing Lelan left wing back, wow, that's interesting, hope he's got pace to burn, alternative switching Byrne's after he 's done so well on the right. Smacks on desperation or is it just a bluff to confuse Taylor.

Think Cooper knows the problems he's got, hence the extra training but not sure if he really know's how to solve it. As with all town fans here's hoping for a good result at Preistfield.

COYR

What;s this "gonna" Bassam, you're supposed to be a journalist not a gangsta!
With regards the article, great to hear Cooper had them in on Sunday, If he's thinking of playing Lelan left wing back, wow, that's interesting, hope he's got pace to burn, alternative switching Byrne's after he 's done so well on the right. Smacks on desperation or is it just a bluff to confuse Taylor.
Think Cooper knows the problems he's got, hence the extra training but not sure if he really know's how to solve it. As with all town fans here's hoping for a good result at Preistfield.
COYRold town robin

What;s this "gonna" Bassam, you're supposed to be a journalist not a gangsta!

With regards the article, great to hear Cooper had them in on Sunday, If he's thinking of playing Lelan left wing back, wow, that's interesting, hope he's got pace to burn, alternative switching Byrne's after he 's done so well on the right. Smacks on desperation or is it just a bluff to confuse Taylor.

Think Cooper knows the problems he's got, hence the extra training but not sure if he really know's how to solve it. As with all town fans here's hoping for a good result at Preistfield.

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